Ruby passed away on June 11, 2014 at the age of 91 in New Rochelle, New York, United States. Here, she and Sammy Davis, Jr., center, attended the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1957. In a statement, Ms. Okonedo called Ms. Dee “one of my heroines.”. Ms. Dee described her as a strict but loving mother, a stickler for elocution and the person who introduced her to poetry, music and dance. . Ms. Dee and Mr. Davis at their home in New Rochelle, N.Y., in 1998. Ms. Dee met Mr. Davis while performing in the play “Jeb” in 1946. It is complete — it has the quickness of life about it. “Ruby and Ossie were by Malcolm’s side, they were with Dr. King in Birmingham, Selma, and the March on Washington, and never worried about the negative impact it might have on their careers.”. The marriage dissolved within four years, but it gave Ms. Dee the name by which she would be known for the rest of her life. They raised money for the Black Panthers. Never for a moment do you think she is acting.”. Ms. Dee was an apprentice, so she not only performed but also mopped floors and peddled tickets. “Painfully shy” as a youth, she remembered a day at school when she read aloud a passage from a play to her classmates and they broke into applause. 131277377, citing Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum, Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave . Tireless and determined activists, Ms. Dee and Davis stood by the Rev. To obtain an official death certificate, begin by contacting the state in which the individual resided. Having made her name in films that addressed racial issues, she began seeking out more of them. In 1946 she joined the cast of a Broadway-bound play called “Jeb,” about a black soldier who has lost a leg in World War II and discovers that his sacrifice for his country is of little value in the face of the racism he encounters on his return home. They were inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame in 1989. Celebrities and Notable People Who Have Had Coronavirus. (Ms. Dee’s death, from undisclosed causes, was confirmed by Arminda Thomas, the archivist for Dee-Davis Enterprises.

The information included in these records can be more sensitive, so they are sometimes restricted by the state. Ms. Dee’s marriage to actor and playwright Ossie Davis was widely regarded as one of Hollywood's most enduring and romantic, lasting 56 years, until his death in 2005. (The others were Holiday, Maya Angelou, Diahann Carroll and Lena Horne.

Ms. Dee's activism brought her in close contact with some of the titans of the civil rights movement, from King to entertainer Harry Belafonte. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, whose eulogy, after his assassination in 1965, was delivered by Mr. Davis. As a young woman, she won acclaim as a chauffeur’s steadfast wife in the Broadway and film versions of “A Raisin in the Sun,” starring Poitier, and then earned an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role as the mother of a drug kingpin played by Washington in “American Gangster” (2007). Ms. Dee went from being a disciple of Paul Robeson to starring with Mr. Poitier on Broadway. They demonstrated against the Vietnam War. Besides her daughter Nora, Ms. Dee is survived by another daughter, Hasna Muhammad; a son, the singer Guy Davis; a sister, Angelina Roach; and seven grandchildren. In a career spanning seven decades, Ms. Dee was known for a quietly commanding presence opposite powerful leading men, including Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington and James Earl Jones. Black women fall in love and have adventures and secrets and are just as driven and gutsy as a lot of white ladies in middle America.”. She had also been married, in 1941, to the singer Frankie Dee Brown. Clive Barnes wrote in The New York Times, “Ruby Dee as Lena is giving one of the finest performances I have ever seen.”. Davis and Ms. Dee married in 1948 between rehearsals for another play. In 1946, Ms. Dee landed a key role in “Jeb,” a short-lived Broadway play about a black soldier trying to make a new life for himself in the American South after being critically wounded in battle. Although Ms. Dee is best known for her work on the stage and the big screen, she had many roles on television as well. They appeared at the opening night gala of their film “Gone Are the Days!” at the Trans-Lux East Theater in 1963.

Ms. Dee shared many awards with Davis for their joint achievements, including the 1995 National Medal of Arts. Due to variances in the way the death index was created, some records may have incomplete (partial) Date of Death information . She was previously a national retail reporter for the Washington Post. Ruth is a character with far too much on her plate: an overcrowded home, a troubled husband, a young son, an overbearing mother-in-law, a wearying job and an unwanted pregnancy, not to mention the shared burden of black people everywhere in a society skewed against them. She became a leading advocate for civil rights, and lent her voice and presence to the cause of racial equality outside show business.

Do you have to?’ ”. Ruby passed away on June 11, 2014 at the age of 91 in New Rochelle, New York, United States. When it comes to the enduring love of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, death will not do them part. She made her Broadway debut in December 1943 in a short-lived play called “South Pacific,” unrelated to the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that came along more than five years later. Birthday: October 27, 1922Date of Death: June 11, 2014Age at Death: 91. She had a small role in “No Way Out” (1950), with Richard Widmark portraying a racist patient who taunts a black medical resident played by Poitier.